The head of the childcare learning centre in Athlone Institute of Technology, Dr. Niall McElwee has resigned. It was recently discovered that he has been convicted of a sexual offence with a girl in the Netherlands in 2004.
I had heard of the name before and reached for Google for it is your friend – or enemy in the case of Dr. McElwee
Niall McElwee is the former head of Doras, a support group for child prostitutes.
He has a text forthcoming on At Risk Children and Youth, and has co-edited a text on applied social care.
He was an expert witness to the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Health and Children on the levels of suicide amongst Irish youth.
US TV saw him as an expert on the Magdelene Laundries.
Consider the above information of interest to people. No further comment is necessary. I’m sure other organisations are conducting inquiries this weekend.
Update:
Today’s Irish Times has further information including quotes from Dr. McElwee.
Dr McElwee (40) said he “deeply regretted” the trauma he caused to four American tourists aged between 15 and 18 and had apologised to them in court.
“It was totally out of character for me. I was totally inebriated. It was very poor judgment. I didn’t know where I was quite literally,” he told The Irish Times yesterday.
Dr McElwee was convicted in September 2005 of two counts of attempted indecent assault. According to court documents, he propositioned one woman for sexual favours and got into bed semi-naked with another.
He was acquitted of four other charges by the Court of Amsterdam, including two against another woman, because the evidence was not proven. Dr McElwee, who lives in Athenry, Co Galway, was given a three-month suspended sentence, two years probation and was fined €3,500.
Update 2:
There is a discussion on some of the issues raised in this case in the comments here.
And all related discussion in this story on this blog can be found here.
Maman Poulet » Dr. Niall McElwee - who knew and how could they know? // Jul 13, 2007 at 09:32
[...] Posted by suzybie on 13 Jul 2007 at 09:30 am | Tagged as: Uncategorized, Fact Check There is a lot of ochon ochon oh going on amongst those working in childcare and child protection this morning in relation to Dr. McElwee’s resignation. Those applying to work or even study in the area of social care and social work have to submit themselves to Garda Clearance, one wonders if those teaching in the area have to submit themselves to a similar clearance. I have no knowledge if Dr. McElwee has applied for clearance at any time. [...]
Maman Poulet » Going Offline // Jul 19, 2007 at 15:49
[...] Posted by suzybie on 19 Jul 2007 at 03:49 pm | Tagged as: Blogging, Social Media, Fact Check, Niall McElwee I’m offline now until Monday – it’s been a very interesting week as a blogger, lots of traffic, lots of comments, and lots of editing, moderating and deleting of comments. Eoin O’Dell and Simon McGarr’s wise words at Bar Camp and Blogging the Election have sat on my shoulder for the week – it’ll be nice to park them for the weekend but I’m sure I’ve failed somewhere. Dermod has also had a very interesting and busy blogging week – his review of Barbara Streisand and the debacle in Celbridge has brought him centre stage in the online location for information and moan space for those attending the conference. Like Dermod most of my traffic, comment and email correspondence this week has been with non bloggers. I find it interesting at the use of the blog for information by staff in every third level institution in Ireland, many mainstream news outlets, and many sections of the HSE, the Department of Justice, Department of Health and others. Little did I think when I arrived back from a break in Amsterdam to a story that seemed a bit strange that I would be spending the next week delving into the murkier bits of Irish academia and watching a debate on social care, regulation and monitoring. Anyway Glasgow awaits me and the rooster for the weekend, back next week for some twittering or something from the TCD Seanad Count. [...]